The mecha genre is one of the oldest genres in anime. Most people think anime when they see giant robots, and with good reason. For the better part of two decades, anime was dominated by mecha anime series like Mazinger and Gundam, as well as smaller series like Aura Battler Dunbine and more.
The genre has been around for such a long time that people don't even question some of the things that happen within it. Sometimes these things have a logical reason for them. Other times it makes no sense at all, and viewers just have to "roll with it" as it's just part of the trappings of the genre.
10 Kid Pilots Are Always The Best Pilots
In mecha anime, it’s generally a given that the best pilot is going to be someone under the age of 25, and more likely just barely around the age of puberty. This is for a number of reasons, including providing a protagonist the target audience can relate to. But it’s in staunch contrast to how things work in real life, where someone doesn’t even hit their stride until their 20’s and early 30’s. The experience should trump everything else, but that’s simply not how it works in anime.
9 Women Get Female-Designed Robots
Every robot realistically has no need to look masculine or feminine. They’re machines that are meant to be led into combat after all, so why would they have such obvious flair? And yet, there are countless mecha that have been designed for female characters that basically are obviously for women. Venus A and Minerva X from the Mazinger franchise are known for this, but more obvious is the Nobel Gundam from G Gundam. The Nobel Gundam looks so much like Sailor Moon’s Sailor Scouts outfit that it’s a large part of why it’s so iconic.
8 That Giant Robots Are Effective In Combat
In most mecha series, giant robots are the apex of battle technology. Everyone wants to build a faster, more durable, and even bigger giant robot, and that’s basically their only goal. In real life, giant robots haven’t been seriously developed because they wouldn’t be useful. Their joints can’t stand the strain of moving and they’d be too slow. Gundam’s One Year War worked in the opposite direction—they used conventional weaponry until the mecha was designed, which quickly made every other kind of weapon essentially useless.
7 No One Attacks While Mecha Are Combining
This feels like a holdover from the Super Robot days where everyone was fighting aliens. But Real Robot has frequently shown off combinations between their robots, dating all the way back to Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.
Double Zeta Gundam felt more like a Megazord as it required four people to combine at first. And yet, few people ever get it in their head to attack the robots as they combine. This was parodied in Build Fighters Try, but the attack was repelled, allowing the robot to combine while the pilot teased his opponents for having no sense of style.
6 The Prototype Suits Are Always Better
In nearly every case, somehow the best mecha are always the prototype. The RX-78-2 Gundam is the prototype for the RGM-79[GM]. It’s not only nowhere near as powerful, and doesn’t have anywhere near the same amount of armor, leading to an almost pathetic level of durability. Prototypes aren’t supposed to be drastically superior, they’re supposed to prove that something is actually possible at all. And yet, even by Gundam Wing this isn’t fixed, as the Tallgeese was a prototype that let Zechs find a way to battle the Gundams evenly.
5 There Are Constantly New Enemy Suits
In nearly every mecha series, the enemies are constantly managing to show up with new robots. In reality, it can take decades to decide to add on to someone’s roster, and the most expensive yet reliable vehicles stick around as long as possible. In anime, the villain needs to find a way to continue to challenge the protagonist and his piloting skills, so they’re constantly introducing new mecha. The only bad part is when certain characters are allowed to make returns in new mobile suits after watching theirs get destroyed. They just blew up a suit that costs millions, now they’re being given a better one?
4 The Mid-Season Upgrade
It’s the middle of the season. Everything seems to be going well until the enemy unveils a larger force than before, or a special strategy. Now the protagonists have their back against the wall, and either narrowly escape or are on the verge of losing. But just in time, the protagonist gets a new giant robot, one that allows them to go to the next level. Suddenly, beating the large force or thinking a way out of his problem seems easy. This happens so frequently and yet somehow the people don’t even think about it most of the time.
3 There's Always A Lot Of Non-Combat Personnel Wandering Around
In mecha anime, if you collect a group of people fighting back against an oppressive army, it’s a given that roughly half of this group will be made up of children. This dates back to 1979 with Mobile Suit Gundam and the White Base literally bringing along a bunch of children to keep them safe during the war. The tradition continues on in both Super Robot and Real Robot, with the children being used as a way to show how the war is affecting the average citizen.
2 The Suits Are Really Easy To Pilot
Somehow, just about every mecha is absurdly easy to pilot. People need a CD-L license to drive a truck. People go to school for years to learn how to fly a plane. But just flipping through a manual is often enough to not only pilot a mecha but to fight back against well-trained opponents at the same time.
This, combined with how kids are almost always the ones piloting mecha, almost makes one wonder if the buttons don’t actually correspond to a game controller.
1 One Person Can Take Out Dozens
This is both the most realistic and the most ridiculous. It’s true that sometimes there are fighters on the battlefield who can defeat several people and come back home, but mecha series ramp up over their battles into absurd territories. The Gundams in 00 were able to fight off 830 mobile suits that attacked in waves. The protagonists in Gundam SEED defeated an entire army without getting a scratch on their Gundams. This is actually common in a lot of series, where the protagonists are capable of beating dozens or more with ease despite the series being supposedly realistic.